Eli Diner

November 2014

Though it may be inadvisable, let’s begin with the press release. The text that Matt Sheridan Smith produced for his recent exhibition “Widow: Fig.3 Ep.1” didn’t merely gloss the show’s themes and forms, but rather played an active role in … READ ON

October 2014

Amid the rubble lay a bottle of booze. A toilet was wedged in the wreckage. The pope, perched atop an ash heap, spread his arms in benediction. These were just a few of the chintzy plastic miniatures lodged among the crags and craters of … READ ON

May 2014

The establishing shot arrives almost halfway through Isabelle Cornaro’s Figures,2011. It’s not much of a wait; the film runs only two and a half minutes. But with this long shot comes a delicate shift in tone and, seemingly, in intention. … READ ON

May 2014

Curated by Connie Butler and Michael Ned Holte Featuring two-hundred-odd works from only thirty-five participants, Made in L.A. 2014 (like all regional-survey shows) will no doubt provide ample grounds for outrage over its omissions and … READ ON

April 2014

Four, maybe five scenes made up Samara Golden’s sprawling exhibition “Mass Murder,” though clear boundaries were not easily distinguishable. One room spilled into the next, and sounds bled through the walls. The overall effect was disorienting,… READ ON

February 2014

It is only fitting that photographer John Divola’s midcareer survey, “As Far as I Could Get,” would be spread across three California museums in three different counties. Those who have managed to see it all surely didn’t see it all in a day,… READ ON

Hannah Hoffman Gallery

November 2013

The brown one squeezes the yellow one, tugs at rolls of fat, and pinches a ballooning cheek. Eyes shut and red lips purse as if breathing a sigh of deep pleasure: it’s an ecstatic, flabby embrace. These are nice babies.
“Nice” was a watchword… READ ON

Thomas Duncan Gallery

September 2013

Over smears, splotches, and oozes of color, corporate logos accrue through impulsive repetitions in Sean Kennedy’s new untitled paintings. A delirious little fracas—or a cloyed and weary reconciliation—between Pop and abstraction plays out … READ ON

Francois Ghebaly Gallery

May 2013

Writing in 1976 about drawings from Channa Horwitz’s series “Variations and Inventions on a Rhythm,” Lucy Lippard observed: “Logically they are flat and anchored to the grid, but their transformations implies freedom, the third dimension—space… READ ON

Matthew Marks Gallery | 1062 N Orange Grove

February 2013

“Follow ev’ry rainbow, till you find your dream!” So goes a line from the refrain of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” a song featured in The Sound of Music and saturated with the—musty but still pervasive—American myths of … READ ON